Question for Rex the Wonder Doc or anyone else who knows from villa rentals in the south of France.
 

Where would I look to see what's available for a couple summer months, to include these criteria:

Within 2 hours (car or train) of the Mediterranean
Sleeps 10
$20,000 tops
Housekeeping/cooking

Is there a wide-open market, or just a few (ugh) providers?

VRBO - IMO when renting from an owner or from an agency, it is still a crap shoot, unless you can get a personal recommendation from here or other reliable sources.

Nina

Robespierre.
I wanted to point our a particular villa that my brother rented two years in a row. One of those years I spent some time vacationing with him there.

The only problem is that it only has four double bedrooms. I didn't know if some of your group included children and arrangements could be made for cots or roll away beds as at least one of the bedrooms is quite large.

This property is exceptional. It is in a lovely location and is first class.

There are two very nice super markets very near and the small perched village of Chateauneuf de Grasse is five minutes away. Nice is about twenty minutes by car.

We found while researching for properties that the price on this property varied because it was listed on a few sites and each gave a different price.

So that might be something to take into consideration doing your research.

Anyway, for what it is worth:

Lou Miradou.

"a couple summer months" - - does this mean eight weeks? six weeks? more?

I'm not sure that $20,000 will go very far for 8 weeks. That's less than 28 euro per person per night.

There are some very nice properties on francevillas.com

I wonder what kind of "Wonder Doc" you think me to be - - wink...

Best wishes,

Rex

Our summer '05 villa btwn. St. Remy and Les Baux in Les Alpilles was rented from www.justfrance.com My friend rented it and invited me to join her. This yr. she rented another from the same agency, this time within walking distance of St. Remy. Both with pool/housekeeping/cooking.

Sorry. I neglected to specify that's our monthly target price. If we can go by the week (rather than calendar month) it would probably be like 2nd week in May through 3rd week July (~14 weeks).

Thanks to all for the helpful insights, and keep 'em comin!

<< ... it would probably be like 2nd week in May through 3rd week July (~14 weeks)... >>

Saturday, May 12 through Saturday, July 28 is only 11 weeks. With $5000 USD per week to play with, I think you have wide open choices, but getting the entire block will require that you get on this right away.

I recommend a phone call to francvillas.com and lay out as much detail as possible. Is there truly no "pecking order" in the group? Five couples? requiring five bedrooms each with separate bath?

What a slowtrav extravaganza!

Typo. My b.o.e. calculation was 12, but I wrote 14 for no reason I can explain. Referring to a calendar (for, ahem, the first time), I see that the period Sunday, May 6 to Saturday, July 28 is the bracket I had in mind. That's 12 weeks. Whew.

Our group (5 adult couples) could easily do $1000 per day if that's what it takes. We all want this to be an unforgettable experience.

The following will attend:
Two fathers-in-law
Two mothers-in-law
Three sons-in-law
Three daughters-in-law

I think probably two or three baths will be needed, but more is better, naturally. Five bedrooms is mandatory.

rex - I tried to find francvillas and francvilla .com and .fr and googled them, but no joy.

As in my first post on this thread, francEvillas.com - - sorry I spelled it incorrectly in the follow-up posting...

Doh! I must have scanned right past it. Thanks again.

Sher, Lou Miradou looks really lovely! Are there interesting "perched villages" nearby for day trips? What months have you/your family been there? I'd love to hear more about it.

Okay, grandmere - - you can't pique everyone's interest without sharing!

http://www.miradou.co.uk/index.html

You might get some ideas here:
http://www.southfrancevillas.com/


The Marina Quay Marseillan property looks fun to me.

Ok, Rex, guilty of kinda high-jacking the post, but what am I not sharing? You want to hear about my standing on a bridge in the sun on a hot day in Annecy while my husband was lost driving the car for almost 2 hours? The GPS was in the hotel room, b/c he was just driving around the corner to park? :-)

We were there in 2003. Was that the year it was so hot in France? I believe it was in June. I can check again the exact dates.

The house is spectacular. The surrounding houses are off very small roads about five minutes from Chateauneuf de Grasse which is a very small village. The houses are on hills off of side roads and very private. It was as if we were all alone.

It has a beautiful fenced in pool area so it is safe for children. There is a large patio with a retractable awning. On the pool level there is a service kitchen with a full sized refrigerator with ice maker and I believe a dishwasher. Plus there is a bathroom with shower. All lounge chairs and pool towels are provided.

The main living area which is entered from the drive is open with large windows, tv with satellite and there is a VCR (probably by now a DVD player.

There is a spiral staircase that leads to the upper floor and also several steps which lead to a huge dining area and powder room. The kitchen is large and well equipped and off of the kitcen is a huge porch.

I think there are dishes aand silverware for at least 20. Next to the kitchen is a laundry room with washer and dryer.

The four double bedrooms have each their own bathrooms. I think two of them have balconies. All have ceiling fans and even during that awful heat, we had no difficulty sleeping.

Grandmere. My brother may have another contact not listed on any of the sites. Email me if you want me to find out.

We rented a car and drove just about everywhere around the Nice area. We drove the Grand Canyon du Verdon, St Maximin (do not go to see the skull of Mary Magdalene), Corniche de L"Esterel, Nice, Monaco (etc. I had been before but Bob had not). Plus more.

It was truly lovely.

You found the website for Lou Miradou (I assume), but you didn't share it!

So did Sher, but sometimes the original poster of "glowing" info is branded a shill by giving a website, so she gets excused.

Rex. It is listed on several sites and just putting the name in Google pulls it up.
I didn't want to list just one because as I said I have found different prices from different sources and felt all should be checked out for comparison.
I understand when a glowing description can be suspicious. I would normally feel that way also. But we really did stay there and it was lovely.
I don't have any vested interest in the property except that I would love to return if I could get four other friends to share the cost with me.

<< I don't have any vested interest in the property... >>

I understand that, and I have no suspicions about your motivations in the slightest.

<<... except that I would love to return if I could get four other friends to share the cost with me. >>

I might be interested in that. May of 2007, perhaps?

The property is managed by a local couple. I don't know what price they are prepared to offer.
I am trying to get the local email or telephone number.
May sounds right for us unless we return to Portugal. We had to cancel the October trip.

I will keep you posted. I realize that you didn't suspect my motives. I have posted enough here to be just an average joe. I wish I did own something like this.

<< May sounds right for us unless we return to Portugal... >>

Does this mean that you would be receptive to all Fodorites' trip? (I might come up with 3 or 4 of the eight)...